Sometimes, Tokiwa asked Ruka for stories from school to use as material in her manga. Ruka had fun talking to her coworker, and she got manga and cake in exchange for her stories, so she was happy to help. Part of her did wonder what the point was, because Tokiwa had been a high schooler herself until pretty recently. But when Ruka had asked one time, Tokiwa had looked so sad that she’d decided to never ask again.
Besides, Ruka wanted to talk about that girl. “Yesterday, we got a new student in class.”
“Oh, a transfer student?”
“Nah, a returning student. I don’t really know what her deal is, but I guess she took time off from school.”
“Ah, I see...” Tokiwa’s eyes shone. Ruka’s story had caught her attention.
“Anyway, her eyes and hair are this flashy color, but she said it’s all natural. Wild, right? Kinda cool too... Oh, and she’s always wearing these black gloves, plus she can see through lies, and she’s so pretty... She’s seriously unbelievable.”
Tokiwa muttered, “Archetype overload...”
“Ar-kuh... What’s that?” Ruka asked.
“I-It means that there are a lot of elements to her character. Take you, for example, Ruka-san. You have light hair, you’re a high school girl, and you’re a g-gyaru...”
“Oh! I get it. Totes overload. She’s got a ton of piercings too.”
“Th-There’s more...?” Tokiwa was now so excited about the creative possibilities that her voice was becoming shrill. “I-I’m sure she must have even more secrets to hide...”
“Secrets?” Ruka asked.
“Like, maybe she’s an assassin who’s part of the underworld. Or she could be the princess of some small country. Perhaps a knight from another world...? I-I’m sure there’s a pompous pretty boy and a hot princely guy fighting over her...!”
Tokiwa’s voice was getting louder and louder. Her eyes were losing focus as she fell into some kind of trance. Ruka didn’t really mind, but if Tokiwa got too loud she would start bothering the people in the café. As Ruka got ready to warn her, Tokiwa snapped back to her senses with a little cough.
“W-Well, everyone has their secrets.”
“Is that how it is...?”
“It is.”
Ruka thought back to that whole incident in the changing room yesterday. Shijunana had said, “I wished to ask her reason for getting close to me, then inform her that it would be best for her well-being to stop.”
Tokiwa-san’s right. That girl must be hiding a big secret. Well, even if she is, it’s none of my business. I’m not gonna try to find out.
That night, at nine o’clock, Ruka left work and started heading home. As she walked down the road lit by streetlights, she looked up at a traffic mirror and saw a large shadowy figure a short distance behind her. They had been following her ever since she left Bianco. No matter how many turns she took and how much time she spent in the convenience store, they kept that exact same amount of space between them and wouldn’t stop following her.
Craaaap! That’s a stalker! Guys had tailed her plenty of times before, but it was still creepy every single time. She didn’t get why they would even do that or what they got out of hiding in the dark and following someone. That scared her, but she shook it off and started to think about what she should do.
If she headed home, the stalker would figure out where she lived. That would put Ryoko in danger too, so she was going to avoid that option no matter what. If she tried to report the stalker, they would get away before anyone came to help. After that, the cops would just give her a lecture about not walking around at night or say it was because of how she dressed.
Ruka pulled out her phone and started talking to herself. “Hey, mom? It’s me!”
She hoped the stalker would give up if it seemed like someone was on the other end. It would be way better if she could talk to somebody right now, but Ryoko was at work and Hinaru and Meiri weren’t picking up. She had to fake it. It wasn’t the best plan for dealing with a stalker, but it was all she had.
“I’m heading home now. Want me to grab anything on my way back? Nope? Gotcha, gotcha...”
She turned the corner and peeked behind her. There, she saw a guy with stubble next to a vending machine. As his vacant eyes turned to Ruka, his face broke into a grin.
Ugh. He’s locked on.
“’Kay, I’ll hurry back,” Ruka said, stowing her phone in her bag. At this point, she had to rely on her legs. She got ready to start runn—
“Ahhh!”
She spun around and saw the stalker guy face down on the ground. A black something covering his body looked like it wasn’t letting him move. The black thing could’ve been a person, but it was hard to tell because the head and arms were bent at weird angles. Thanks to the light from the vending machine, Ruka saw that it had an outer layer that sort of looked like clay.
Oh, it’s a fetish thing. Like a bondage suit. It was Ruka’s first time seeing one of those, but she knew some people were into that. She wasn’t about to kink shame anyone, but that didn’t mean she wanted to see it.
The guy yelled again. “H-Help me!”
That snapped Ruka out of it. She threw her schoolbag at the black thing, which wasn’t as heavy as it looked. It tumbled off the guy, and now he had a chance to run.
“Gun it, old guy!” Ruka yelled.
“G-G-G...?”
“Floor it! Run!”
The guy finally understood and stumbled away from the black thing before running away. The black thing stayed put. The part that was probably its face turned to Ruka’s bag on the ground next to it.
Crap. Should’ve asked that guy to call the cops.
“My bad, sorry for interrupting... But, y’know, I didn’t wanna see all that, like, maybe save the hardcore stuff for when you’re at home?” Ruka backed away with her hands up and her palms facing out.
A short whistle was all Ruka heard before her schoolbag went flying and burst open in midair. Her textbooks, gym clothes, makeup pouch, and phone all fell onto the asphalt.
“Huh...? What...?” As Ruka tried to process what had just happened, the black thing pointed a long and thin who-knows-what at her. She realized that was what had destroyed her bag. “Whoa, hey, this is no joke...”
Her instincts screamed at her to run, but her legs felt stuck when she saw all of her stuff just lying on the street. Meiri and Hinaru had given her some of that makeup for her birthday, and she’d splurged on that wallet with money she’d made working at Bianco. She couldn’t just ditch all of that.
My life, or my money... Which is more important?
“My life comes first!” Ruka yelled.
She ran. There weren’t any police boxes nearby, and she couldn’t call the cops without her phone. It’d be nice if she could hide in a house or something, but all the buildings nearby were apartments, and she couldn’t just walk into one of those.
My luck is just complete garbage! Ruka was already exhausted after school and work, but she ran with everything she had.
“Wha...?”
The black thing appeared right beside her.
Now that she was looking at it up close, Ruka shuddered at what she saw. The face was all slick like a mannequin’s, and a blade was fused into one of its arms. Its waist was as thin as Ruka’s own arm, so it probably didn’t even have any organs inside. It did, however, have four legs.
Monster... It was the perfect word for that black thing. Ruka was absolutely horrified by the deadly presence in front of her. I’m just a high schooler! I can’t fight something like this! I don’t wanna die!
All she could do now was cling onto hope. “H-Help—”
A single black point in the sky grew bigger and bigger until it became a silhouette of a person dropping sharply through the air. They landed behind Ruka with an intense metallic crash.
Ruka’s legs shook. She turned around and saw a figure in a long coat standing between her and the black monster. Their face was hidden by their hood, but they held a shining silver spear in one hand and silver light shone all around.
“I made it in time,” said the hooded figure.
Ruka knew that voice. It sounded familiar, and it reminded her of winter. And then, she saw a flash of silver hair from under that hood. Even though Ruka was shaken by this whole crazy situation, she knew exactly who she was looking at now.
“Shijunana-san...?” Ruka asked, and the person in the coat froze. Wow, that reaction was stupid easy to read. She’s totally Ginka Shijunana. “Wh-What are you doing here...?”
“I’ll explain later. Don’t move.”